Annual Population Survey

Last updated on 14/09/2016 - 15:35

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is a major survey series, which aims to provide data that can produce reliable estimates at local authority level. Key topics covered in the survey include education, employment, health and ethnicity. The APS comprises key variables from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), all its associated LFS boosts and the APS boost. Thus, the APS combines results from five different sources: the LFS (waves 1 and 5); the English Local Labour Force Survey (LLFS), the Welsh Labour Force Survey (WLFS), the Scottish Labour Force Survey (SLFS) and the Annual Population Survey Boost Sample (APS(B) (until December 2005), so APS data from January 2006 onwards contain all the above data apart from APS(B)).

The APS aims to provide enhanced annual data for England, covering a target sample of at least 510 economically active persons for each Unitary Authority (UA)/Local Authority District (LAD) and at least 450 in each Greater London Borough. In combination with local LFS boost samples such as the WLFS and SLFS, the survey provides estimates for a range of indicators down to Local Education Authority (LEA) level across the United Kingdom.

Individual and household-level microdata files, including panel files, are available via the UKDS in SPSS, Stata and tab-delimited format.

Some versions of the APS microdata require Special Licence access: Since these data pose a higher risk of disclosure than data made available under the standard End User Licence they have additional special conditions attached to them. Any registered user requiring access to these data will have to be accredited by the UK Statistics Authority as an Approved Researcher. An application form is available on the UK Data Service web site.

Some versions of the APS microdata require Secure data service access: Since these data are more sensitive and/or pose a higher risk of disclosure than data made available under the standard End User Licence or under a Special Licence, they are not available for download but may be accessed through Secure Access. Access requires accreditation by the UK Statistics Authority as an Approved Researcher, completion of face-to-face training, and agreement to the Secure Access's User Agreement and Breaches Penalties Policy.